


Changing Evolution

by classicalreader313



Category: Peanuts
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bisexual Character, Childhood Friends, Crushes, Double Dating, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, High School, Homecoming Dance, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Unrequited Love, taking canon relationships and tearing them apart
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5547542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classicalreader313/pseuds/classicalreader313
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now in high school, the Peanuts cope with things like crushes, dances, homework, and their impending future. How will they handle it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story features gay characters and relationships. If you don't like that, don't read.

            For most kids, the yellow school bus was a nightmare.

Lucy van Pelt prided herself on her grit, but even she had spent much of her childhood and adolescence despising it. Wishing, hoping, and praying that one day she wouldn’t have to ride the bus anymore. Wishing, hoping, and praying that she could finally escape the smelly bus and the yelling kids and the rude driver and the wildly flying balls of paper. She remembered horrible, sweltering days in late August when the sticky, sweaty plastic seats would stick to the backs of her thighs. She remembered frigid January mornings when the cold windows numbed the side of her face as she leaned against them, trying to catch extra sleep on the drive to school.

Lucy van Pelt had been waiting for an escape for years. Finally, her dream had come true. That summer- July 13th \- Lucy had gotten her license. Now, on the first day of her junior year, she was ready to drive herself to school for the first time.

            Of course, in her dreams, she hadn’t counted on chauffeuring her two younger brothers.

            Standing at the front door, she was ready for the day. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder, and the blue dress that she wore was perfectly neat. Her dark hair was sleek and straightened, but the expression on her face became increasingly frazzled as the minutes wore on. “Linus, Rerun! Get down here!” she shouted at her lagging brothers, stomping her foot impatiently.

            Linus was the first to come down, but he wasn’t nearly as put together as her. He was just a year younger than her, entering his sophomore year. He held his shoes in his hands and his brown hair was mussed.

            “Put your shoes on,” Lucy said.

            “I’ll do it in the car. We can’t be late,” Linus answered.

            She let out an exasperated sigh. “Well we’d be on our way by now if it wasn’t for you and my _other_ idiot brother.”

            Linus immediately picked up on her tone, and he knew that talking back to her wouldn’t get him anywhere but a hospital room. With this in mind, Linus paid her no mind and headed out to the car. He was learning that it was better not to argue with Lucy, especially this early in the morning.

            “Lucy! Can you unlock the door?” Linus called from the front yard. The neighbors had long since grown accustomed to the noise coming from the Van Pelt home every morning, afternoon, and night.

            She ignored him as her youngest brother Rerun came stumbling down the stairs. Today was his first day of seventh grade, and his eyes revealed his nerves. “Sorry, big sister,” he apologized as he hurried out the door.

            Lucy rolled her eyes as she followed him, locking the front door behind her. Then, she unlocked the car with a small ‘beep.’ “Finally!” Linus yanked the front passenger door open, tossing his sneakers and backpack on the floor before climbing in.

            Soon the Van Pelts were packed into the small Toyota Camry and Lucy pulled out of the driveway. She felt immensely happy as she drove down her street. Her dream was coming true. She had her license. She was driving her own car. She didn’t have to sit on the bus every morning and every afternoon. She was her own woman!

            The dream was interrupted when Linus began fiddling with the radio.

            “Linus, cut that out!”

            “I’m just looking for a good station,” he defended, spinning the dial on the radio. A loud staticky sound ripped through the car.

            “ _I_ don’t want to listen to the radio,” Lucy huffed. “And neither does Rerun. Right, Rerun?” She looked back at her youngest brother in the rearview mirror. This was not turning out how she had expected at all.

            “Yes, he does,” Linus insisted, still searching for the right station. “Don’t you, Rerun?”

            Rerun looked between his two older siblings. He opened his mouth to speak, but he remembered that of the two of them, Lucy could hit harder. He shrunk back in his seat. The two oldest Van Pelts carried on in their arguing, hardly taking notice of him.

            More static sounded on the radio. “Linus, quit it!”

            “Not gonna happen,” he retorted.

            “You blockhead!” She slapped his hand away from the dial.

            “You can’t hit me while you’re driving!”

            “Oh, yes I can!” Lucy yelled back, punching him hard in the arm.

            “That’s not safe,” he said, wincing when she hit him again. “Stop!”

            “It’s my car! I’ll do what I want.” She slapped his arm as he reached for the dial once more.

            “Lucy-” Linus began in protest, but his dark-haired sister slammed on the brakes. The car came to an abrupt stop. Rerun lurched forward in his seat.

            “That’s it!” Lucy cried, face red in anger. “Get out of my car.”

            “Me?” Linus, eyes widening.

            “Yeah, you. Right now.” She unlocked the doors.

            Linus was about to protest, but he saw the look on his sister’s face. She was stubborn, and he could see it in the blaze of her eyes. He was stubborn too, but no match for Lucy. He knew there was no changing her mind. Reluctantly, Linus got out of the car, dragging his backpack with him. “Have a good day, Rerun,” he said, before making a face at Lucy.

            She returned it as he slammed the door shut. The car sped off.

            Linus just watched them go, a look of disbelief on his face. “She really did it,” he said. “My own sister!”

            “Linus?”

            He instantly recognized the voice. “Hey, Schroeder,” he greeted, turning around.

            “This isn’t your stop…”

            Linus shook his head. “It’s not. But Lucy kicked me out of the car.”

            Schroeder wasn’t even surprised. That sounded like exactly the sort of thing that Lucy would do. “I forgot she had her license now,” Schroeder said, grinning. “Oh well, you can ride the bus with me.”

            “Thanks,” Linus answered, but noticed that Schroeder was staring at him funny. Was staring at his feet funny…

            Linus looked down. “Oh, _rats_!” He had left his shoes in the car, and now he was standing on the sidewalk in his socks.

            “Where are your shoes?” Schroeder asked, amused.

            “I left them in Lucy’s car. I was going to put them on, but then she, you know, kicked me out.”

            “Don’t worry about it, you can borrow a pair of mine. My house is just up the street,” Schroeder offered, beckoning for the younger boy to follow.

            “Oh, gee,” Linus said, walking a few paces behind the blond boy. “Thank you so much. I mean, can you imagine? Showing up to the first day of school with no shoes.”

            “Just say Lucy’s name, and _no one_ will ask questions.”

            Linus grinned- it was true. Everyone at school knew what Lucy was like. If someone didn’t know, they learned fast- either from hearsay or personal experience. She had quite the reputation. They all knew how she treated Charlie Brown and the other neighborhood kids when she were younger, and most had seen or heard about her psychiatric help booth. With all this, she could be the biggest social pariah in the school, but instead she was strangely popular and was even student body president. Linus didn’t understand it.

            “Lucy would just _love_ for people to hear about this,” Linus said sarcastically, but then they were on Schroeder’s block.

            “Here we are,” the blond said, walking up the path.

            “I know. I’ve been to your house before.”

            The two boys exchanged smiles as Schroeder unlocked the door and stepped inside. The house was empty- both of Schroeder’s parents worked long hours and they usually left early in the morning and returned around dinnertime.

            They walked through the living room in order to get to the stairs up to the second floor. A grand piano was the focal point of the room. “Wow,” Linus said to himself, unable to keep his eyes off of it. He knocked hard into Schroeder’s back as the other boy stopped. Only Schroeder’s hands gripping his arms kept him from falling backwards onto the carpet. “Sorry,” Linus said dizzily, steadying himself.

            “I thought I heard you say something,” Schroeder explained. “That’s why I stopped.”

            “I said wow… at the piano.”

            “Oh,” Schroeder smiled, his own light eyes traveling to the instrument.

            “I haven’t heard you play for a long time… I miss hearing you,” he admitted, and felt his cheeks heat up. He wished suddenly that he was back in Lucy’s car, because he realized that while yeah, he had been to Schroeder’s house a bunch of times, he had never been there _alone._

            Schroeder, however, was smiling down at him. “I’ll have to play for you sometime. I miss playing for people other than your sister and my parents.”

            Linus shot back a nervous smile. After all these years, his sister still had feelings for the musician.

            They went up the stairs in silence. After Linus’s new realization that this was the first time he had ever been the only one of his friends at Schroeder’s house, he felt self-conscious. He didn’t know what to say or how to carry himself.

            “I think my shoes’ll be a little big,” Schroeder said as they reached his room.

            “Better than nothing,” Linus nervously mumbled, sitting down at the blond’s desk chair as he rummaged in his closet. The bed was unmade and clothes were strewn across the floor. Linus felt uncomfortable enough downstairs, but now in this personal, intimate space, his stomach churned.

            “How about these?” Schroeder asked, finally emerging. He was holding black and grey sneakers.

            “Those’ll be perfect,” he answered, taking them and slipping them onto his socked feet. Schroeder was right: they were a bit big, but his feet weren’t slipping out of them, so they would do. “Thanks again. You’re a lifesaver.”

            “It’s no trouble,” the blond assured and checked the digital clock on his bedside table. “We should get to the bus. It’s due to be here soon.”

 ///

            The boys made it to the bus on time, and found an empty bench. They sat down, Linus squashed against the window and their backpacks on their laps.

            The seats were small. They had seemed so giant- the bus had seemed so daunting- when they were kids, but now Schroeder and Linus’s legs pressed together as they crammed into the seat.

            The ride to school was just getting started when Schroeder turned to him. “You know, you should come over sometime,” he tentatively offered. “I can, uh- I could play for you.”

            Linus was stunned, and a small smile crossed his face. “I’d like that, Schroeder,” he answered, and then quickly looked out the window, his face heating up.

            He spent the rest of the short bus ride in embarrassed silence.


	2. Chapter 2

            Someone else had gotten their license that summer.

            Well, really, at the end of the last school year. Not that anyone really noticed.

            Charlie Brown was preparing for his first day of school as well. He looked in the mirror as he combed his dark hair, trying to get it to lie flat on his head. He wore a yellow shirt that he thought made him look pudgy in the middle, but it was clean, and that was what mattered.

            He didn’t care too much about the start of a new school year. He had heard many people call it a “new beginning,” a chance to start over. Charlie Brown didn’t believe that. It wasn’t a new beginning, because all the people at school already knew who he was. A new school year didn’t change anything.

            His sister Sally, on the other hand, cared a whole lot.

            “Big brother, when will you be done?” Sally banged on the bathroom door.

            “Just a bit longer. You can come in- it’s unlocked,” he answered, not switching his focus from his own reflection.

            The door opened and in stepped his sister, Sally. Her blond hair was curled and fell around her shoulder. In her hand was a makeup bag, bursting at the seams with cosmetics.

            “Do you really need all that?” Charlie asked as he cast a glance her way. “It’s just the first day of school. Not a big deal.”

            “I do need it. I like to wear makeup- I like how it makes me look,” Sally answered. “And is Linus gonna be there?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Then it _is_ a big deal!” she squealed, setting her makeup bag by the sink. “Plus, don’t act like you don’t care about the first day of school. I heard you get up at 4:40 this morning just to pick what to wear.”

            “I do that every morning,” Charlie grumbled, giving up on his hair. “Bathroom’s all yours.”

            “Thank you, big brother,” Sally said, giving him a kiss on the cheek before taking her place before the mirror.

            As he was walking away, she called after him. “By the way, you look great.”

            He gave her a small smile. His sister knew just what to say. “Thanks, Sally.”

///

            While the Van Pelt siblings constantly squabbled, Charlie and Sally had grown closer since their childhood. Only a little over a year separated the two, and they were just a grade apart in school. They shared secrets with each other and always seemed to know what to say to make the other feel better. As most big brothers are, Charlie was protective of his younger sister, and Sally felt the same towards him.

            Unlike the Van Pelt’s rough start to the morning, after setting out fresh water and kibble for Snoopy, the Browns were on their way. Charlie Brown’s car was a dark blue, four-door Buick. He was a careful driver, and he traveled the route to school far below the posted speed limit.

            “Charlie, you can speed up,” Sally reminded him.

            Charlie Brown knew that. He just didn’t want to get to school too quickly. He didn’t mind getting his classes and seeing his friends again, but school always filled him with dread- especially now that it was his junior year.

            “I know, Sally, but safety first.”

            “You know, it’s perfectly natural to be nervous about the first day of school,” she reminded him gently.

            “You sound like mom,” he teased. “How about you put something on the radio? It’s weird to drive without music.”

            His sister smiled and obliged, settling on a pop music station. Charlie Brown didn’t know the words, but she did and she sang along. Sally had a pretty voice. He liked it when she sang.

            They soon arrived at school, and he had to navigate the tricky world of student parking. Luckily, the Browns were frequently early to school, so parking wasn’t much of an obstacle. Charlie got out of his car just as a Toyota Camry pulled into the lot and parked by him.

            “Hey, blockhead!” Lucy called with a sunny smile as she got out of her car. The Browns were getting their bags out of the trunk. She grabbed her own backpack and walked over to them.

            “Hi, Lucy,” he answered. “Where’s Linus?”

            “Yeah, where’s my sweet babboo?” Sally asked, growing concerned. “He isn’t sick, is he?”

            Lucy fiddled with the tips of her dark hair. “He was getting on my nerves, so I booted him out of the car,” she admitted.

            “Lucy!” Charlie was in shock.

            “My poor sweet babboo!” Sally lamented. “Lost and alone! He’s probably so cold… and scared…”

            “It’s August!” Lucy cried. “And I dropped him off at the bus stop after ours. He’s _fine,_ and I’m _not_ sorry.”

            “Well as much as I’d love to hear about you torturing poor Linus, I have to go catch up with my friends,” Sally said, pouting at Lucy. “Have a nice day, big brother!”

            She skipped off, leaving Charlie and Lucy standing by his car.

            “Really, it’s not a big deal,” she said. “I just did it to show him I mean business.”

            Charlie shrugged. “He’ll be fine. I was just looking forward to seeing my best friend.”

            Lucy nudged him with her elbow. “I thought _I_ was your best friend.”

            He looked down and saw she was grinning at him. He smiled back. He could hardly believe it, but as they grew up, Lucy and Charlie had grown closer together. They still didn’t always get along, and Lucy still teased him, but Charlie Brown considered her a good friend of his. It was amazing to think that the greatest foe of his childhood was finally on his side.

            “Come on, let’s go. We can see if your _real_ best friend has gotten here,” she teased.

            He rolled his eyes and followed her, locking his car.

///

            At around this time, Peppermint Patty and Marcie were arriving at school. Neither could drive, so they rode the bus together, despite living in different neighborhoods. Peppermint Patty woke up early each morning and walked two miles to meet Marcie at her bus stop.

            As they got off the bus, they saw the front of the school swarming with students. People were reuniting with friends they hadn’t seen for awhile, all hugging and buzzing with chatter.

            “Sir, did you finish your summer homework?” Marcie asked, sticking close to Patty in the flood of kids.

            “Summer homework?!” Patty cried in response, turning to face her brunette friend. “Since when do we have summer homework?”

            “We’ve been doing summer homework since elementary school,” Marcie reminded, and Patty blanched.

            “Oh _no_!”

            The brunette’s face softened as she looked at the redheaded tomboy. “You can copy mine in opening convocation.”

            Patty’s fearful eyes switched to tenderness. “Aw, thanks, Marcie,” she smiled. All around the two, students were hurrying to find their friends or get to their lockers. “Here, Marcie. Hold onto my hand so I don’t lose you.”

            She took Marcie’s hand in her and the brunette blushed. Patty didn’t notice, as she was calling to two of her friends. “Chuck! Lucille!”

            The two dark haired friends looked over to her and fought against the thronging crowd to join the two girls.

            “Hi, Patty. Hi, Marcie,” Charlie greeted them.

            “Hey,” Lucy waved.

            “Hi, Chuck! How’ve you been?” Peppermint Patty asked. Marcie said nothing, still grinning as Patty held her hand.

            “Well, I’m at school… so not great,” he answered.

            Lucy wasn’t very invested in the conversation and looked around, scanning the faces of passing students. Suddenly she caught sight of two people: “Schroeder! Linus!”

            Her shrill yell carried and the two boys couldn’t help but hear. They turned back to join the group. She smiled at Schroeder. “Were you trying to sneak by without saying hello?” she teased and threw her arms around him in a hug.

            Schroeder returned it. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with Lucy’s weak attempts at flirting, but he humored her. “After hearing what you did to your poor brother this morning, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to talk to you,” he joked back.

            Linus went over to greet Charlie Brown as Patty and Marcie became interested in what the musician was saying.

            “What do you mean? What did she do to Linus?” Peppermint Patty inquired.

            “She kicked him out of the car when he wasn’t even wearing shoes,” Schroeder explained.

            Marcie and Patty were shocked.

            “Poor Linus,” Marcie mumbled.

            “You know, I think they ought to suspend your license for that!” Patty accused.

            “No, it’s alright. I gave him a pair of shoes and rode the bus with him,” Schroeder said, just as Lucy was about to protest. “I’d say my morning was actually better because Lucy’s a horrible sister.”

            “I am not a horrible sister,” she interjected. She knew he was only teasing, but she wanted to set it straight. “I got Rerun to school on time! He’s still in one piece!”

            “My sweet babboo!”

Linus’s head snapped up in terror.

It was Sally, now without her friends. She seemed to have an uncanny ability to sense whenever Linus was nearby. “Hi, sweetie. How was your summer?” she asked.

“I’m not your sweetie, and I saw you last week,” he answered curtly.

“I’m sorry about what your sister did to you,” she cooed, nuzzling into his side. “I’ll fight her for you.”

Linus surprised himself by smiling. “That is something I’d like to see.”

Charlie cut in, “No one is fighting anyone. I don’t want my sister suspended on the _first day of school_.”

Sally giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.

Linus smiled and looked up to see Schroeder staring at him. He tilted his head to one side.

Just then the morning bell rang, signaling the doors were unlocked.

The friends exchanged looks- none were thrilled. “Come on, guys!” Lucy said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “Time to go!”

Peppermint Patty turned towards the school, pulling Marcie along with her. “Do you have your summer homework with you now?” the redhead asked.

“Yes, sir. Right in my backpack. I’ll sneak it into convocation.”

“Thanks, again. I’ll see you there. Save me a seat!” Patty finally released her hand and set off to look for her locker. Marcie looked after her, left with a smile and a warm tingling feeling in her hand.

Marcie went off to find her locker, which ended up being close to Charlie Brown’s.

“Hello, Charles,” she greeted, watching as her friend unloaded his textbooks into his metal green locker. As she spoke, one slipped from his grip, landing hard on his foot.

“Ow!” he cried, biting his lip to keep from yelling more obscene words.

“Oh, are you okay?” she asked, dropping her bag and running over to him.

“Yeah, Marcie, I’m fine,” he said, hopping on one foot.

“Will you be okay?”

“I’ll have to be. It’d be lousy to end up in the nurse’s office before the school day even starts.”

She smiled. “Sure would be. You’d beat your record.”

Charlie frowned at her, remembering the disaster on the first day of school last year. It was something he preferred to forget. “How’ve you been, Marcie? I didn’t see much of you this summer.”

“I’ve been fine. I spent most of my summer either on college tours or with Patty,” the brunette answered.

“College tours?” Charlie repeated, filling with dread. Not even a full day into his junior year and the thought of college was scaring the hell out of him. “But we’re barely juniors.”

“I know, but you know how my parents are when it comes to school.”

The dark-haired boy nodded in understanding. Even when they were in elementary school Marcie’s parents had been obsessed with her grades, often working the poor girl to exhaustion.

“Yeah, I know,” he finally said. “Would you like to sit by me in opening convocation?”

“I’d love to, Charles,” Marcie beamed. “It’ll give us a chance to catch up. Patty’s on my other side, though. She has to copy my summer homework.”

“She didn’t do it? Not even with you hassling her about it?” he asked, disbelieving.

“I was so distracted with colleges that I was off my game,” the bespectacled girl answered. “I think we should head to convocation. I need to save Patty a seat.”

“Okay,” Charlie Brown said, slamming his locker shut. “Let’s go.”

///

            Schroeder was in the section of the school where the sophomore lockers were. He personally thought that much of the younger class was obnoxious, but he wanted to find Linus. At last he saw him, standing by his locker clad in his striped red shirt.

            “Hey,” Schroeder greeted when he approached him. “I love your shoes. Where’d you get them?”

            Linus closed the book he was reading and turned to face the blond. “Very funny,” he said, smiling.

            Reveling in the way the younger boy’s eyes lit up, Schroeder realized he didn’t have anything else to say. “Well, there go my clever lines,” he said with an awkward grin. “Do you want to head to convocation?”

            “Sure,” Linus said and shut his locker door.

            It wasn’t hard to find their way to convocation. All they had to do was join the surge of students all pushing in that direction. The boys stuck close together as they were herded towards the auditorium. Linus tugged at his lip with his teeth as he thought something over before finally looking over to the blond musician. “Schroeder?” His voice was low, but the other boy heard him. “When you said-”

            He was cut off when someone slammed into him, knocking him off balance. He caught a glimpse of the yellow shirt and knew immediately who it was.

            Good ol’ Charlie Brown.

            “Sorry, Linus,” he apologized as he and Marcie joined the swarm.

            “It’s okay,” the younger boy said, having righted himself. He was upset that he wasn’t able to finish speaking to Schroeder, but he was glad to be with his best friend.

            “Charles, we’ve got to hurry,” Marcie urged. “We’re saving a seat for Patty,” she explained to Schroeder and Linus. “You’re welcome to join us if you can keep up.” With that, she grabbed Charlie’s hand and pushed her way through the crowd of traveling kids. The two boys left behind shared glances before following, mumbling “excuse us” as they jostled fellow students.

            Marcie was unstoppable in her determination, and within a few minutes the group was nearly to the auditorium. Along the way they ran into Lucy, who linked arms with Schroeder.

            Soon they were settling into their seats, with one saved for the missing Peppermint Patty. Charlie Brown scanned the auditorium, looking for Sally. He knew that between the two of them, she was better equipped to have a great first day, but he still worried about her. Unable to find her, he turned back around in his seat as the teachers called for attention in the front of the auditorium.

            Patty rushed in, barely making it on time, and almost tripped over her friends’ legs a few times as she squeezed past them to the seat that Marcie had saved for her. She was just getting comfortable as the lights went down and the principal began to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed, please leave a comment.  
> Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank irlenolacroix and XxAllenWalkerxX for their support of the story. It means a lot.

Opening convocation was boring as always, and as the principal droned on about his high hopes for the year, each member of the gang spent the hour in different ways.

Peppermint Patty’s eyes strained to read Marcie’s small neat handwriting as she copied off of her friend’s summer homework. Since elementary school, Patty had done this many times, and knew just how many words to change and what questions to get wrong. She knew her teachers didn’t expect much from her.

Marcie tried her best to pay attention, but the principal had the sort of voice that was just perfect for napping to. After supervising Peppermint Patty’s work for a few minutes, she nodded off, leaning against Charlie’s shoulder.

Charlie Brown’s eyebrows shot up in alarm as he felt her head drop against his shoulder. After seeing that she was just sleeping, he smiled softly. Maybe she had been up most of last night studying, or maybe the principal was just _really_ boring. Either way, he felt strangely proud that she had decided to rest her head on _his_ shoulder.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a poke to his arm. “It’s your turn, Charlie Brown.”

He quickly turned his head to face Linus, his best friend. On the armrest between them sat a crumpled piece of notebook paper on which they were playing tic tac toe. They were only on their third game, and so far Linus was winning. The older boy quickly surveyed the game board before placing an “O.”

Linus grinned triumphantly and scribbled down his “X.” Three in a row. He won again.

“Aw, Linus, it’s not fair,” Charlie Brown complained. “X always wins!”

“That’s not true. It has nothing to do with who’s X and who’s O. It’s just a stupid game,” Linus said back. “Who cares who wins?”

“ _I_ do. I’ll draw up another board- but I’m X this time.”

“Sure, sure,” Linus answered, planning to let Charlie Brown win the next round. He didn’t care about winning, but the other obviously did, and it wouldn’t hurt to let him feel good. As Charlie drew another tic tac toe board, Linus changed his focus from his friend to the kids sitting around him. On his other side was his sister Lucy. She rested her head on her hand and drummed her fingers listlessly against her cheek.

Her other hand was entwined with Schroeder’s and resting on the armrest between the two. Linus’s eyes bulged out of his head when he saw. Schroeder had the hands of a musician, with long, slender fingers. Lucy’s hand was dwarfed by his, and Linus wondered how the blond boy’s hand would feel in his. His hands were only a bit bigger than Lucy’s, after all. _Wait… why was he thinking these things?_

“Linus,” Charlie Brown whispered and delivered a sharp poke.

The boy quickly turned his head and was thankful that the dark auditorium hid his blushing cheeks. “My turn?” he asked before quickly drawing an “O.” As Charlie Brown was scrutinizing the game, he looked back to Lucy and Schroeder. For some reason he had a hard time looking away. The look of content on both their faces… he wanted that sort of warm fuzzy feeling.

Another tap on his shoulder and he looked back to the board. Barely looking at the game, he drew an “O” again.

He turned back to his sister and felt his stomach twisting. They looked _happy._ They looked happy _together_. Linus hated the disappointment he felt. Lucy and Schroeder were how it had always been and how it would always be. No point hoping for anything different…

Charlie Brown made his move in tic tac toe, and Linus drew his final “O.”

“Aw, you win again,” Charlie groaned and Linus looked down quickly in horror. It was true- he had three in a row. He had been too busy looking at Schroeder and Lucy to carry out his plan.

“Whoops,” Linus smiled sheepishly as Charlie Brown turned to the stage, where the principal spoke, and sank into his seat.

///

After convocation was over, it was time for them to get their schedules. Chatter hummed through the swarm of students as each grade went to their mailboxes. This was arguably the most important part of the school year. Linus was thrumming with nerves as he approached his mailbox, wishing that he’d get nice teachers and that he wouldn’t have any classes with his sister.

Pushing his way to the front of the sophomore class, he snatched his schedule and immediately began reading over it. Sophomore English, physics, honors calculus, world history, drawing, and Latin. He looked over the list of teachers and was pleased. He hadn’t heard many bad things about any of them.

“Sweet babboo!” He heard a yell and then felt a tug on his sleeve. “Schedule please?”

He handed it over to Sally and she began to study the two- her schedule and his- side by side. “Ooh! We have English and art together!” she cried, beaming at him. She pulled him into a hug, pressing his face into the blonde hair that curled over her shoulder. It smelled nice- like flowery shampoo- but it was getting hard to breathe.

She released him and chirped, “See you later, Linus!” before skipping away. He didn’t have a chance to say a thing.

The boy then decided to head over to the junior mailboxes, where he knew most of his friends would be. Part of the reason for all his friends being older was that he had met them through tagging along after Lucy when he was younger. Another reason was that he was often placed in advanced classes in school, which he took with the year above him.

He reached the junior mailboxes and the first person he saw was Charlie. He approached his best friend. “Oh, hi, Linus,” the boy greeted.

“Hi, Charlie Brown. Can I see your schedule?”

“Sure,” Charlie said, and gave it to him. Linus scanned his friend’s schedule before passing it back with a smile.

“We have math together.”

Charlie Brown heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank _goodness._ I don’t think I’d be able to survive that class without you.”

Just the previous year, the older boy had been bumped up to honors pre-calculus, which he had been absolutely terrible at. With Linus tutoring him, however, he had been able to get out of the class with a low B.

“I’ll be happy to help you,” Linus said. Just then Patty ran over, dragging Marcie behind her.

“Hey, Chuck, Linus,” the redhead said and then grabbed their schedules. “Chuck, you have music with me and Marcie. You have English with Marcie,” she rattled off, her eyes moving erratically over the two sheets of paper. “Linus… you have physics with Marcie, and you have English with me.” Smiling, satisfied, she handed the boys back their schedules.

“How’d you end up in sophomore English?” Charlie Brown asked her.

“I, uh,” she fidgeted, embarrassed. “I failed English as a freshman and had to retake it last year,” she admitted.

“Oh…”

“Well,” Linus cut in, seeing the awkward look on his best friend’s face, “I’m looking forward to being in your class this year, Peppermint Patty.”

The redhead grinned broadly and slapped him hard on the arm. Linus fought to stay upright with the force of the blow. “You’re a good kid, Linus. Come on, Marcie, let’s look for everyone else.” She grabbed Marcie’s hand and pulled her off. The brunette waved to the two boys.

Next Lucy came up to them. She didn’t say a word, just held out her hand. The boys knew what she meant and immediately gave her their schedules. “Charlie Brown, you’re in math and history with me,” she said and handed back the paper.

Then she turned her attention to her brother’s schedule. Her calm face transformed into a look of horror. “You’re in my math class! Blech!” she cried, thrusting the schedule back into his hand. “Way to ruin a perfectly good day! Thanks a lot, school board!”

With that she hurried off. The boys just shrugged their shoulders and went to look for more of their friends. They ran into Schroeder, who had history and music with Charlie Brown. “Be careful, Lucy’s in our history class,” Charlie warned, and Schroeder pulled a face.

“Hey, Linus, you’re in my physics class,” the blond said, and Linus felt his stomach tighten.

“Really?” he asked, and Schroeder nodded, even showing him the two schedules. Linus didn’t know if this was good, or if it was the worst thing that could ever happen to him. He couldn’t help the smile that lit up his face though.

Soon Schroeder said his goodbyes and next the boys were met with Franklin and Pig-Pen. Linus only had drawing with Franklin, while Charlie Brown was in his English class.

“Ooh, Charlie Brown, tough luck with history. Violet _and_ Lucy are in that class,” Franklin said sympathetically.

“But Schroeder will be there to distract Lucy,” Charlie Brown responded, looking a little green.

“But what about Violet? She’s always got her claws out.”

Charlie hadn’t considered that, and his sickened complexion turned white as a sheet. “Come on, Franklin, don’t scare him,” Pig-Pen grinned, nudging his friend. “Let me see their schedules,” he said and Franklin handed them to him.

After studying them, he said, “Linus, I’m in your drawing and Latin class. Frieda’s in Latin, too. Charlie Brown, I’ve got English with you.”

The boys were passing back their schedules when the warning bell rang- five minutes until their first class started. Since it was only the first day of school, they had a shortened class before lunch, followed by three short classes.

Linus first had English, so he parted ways with his friends and began looking for the classroom. Luckily, the room was in the same part of the building that he had had English class last year, so it didn’t take too long to find it.

As soon as he entered the classroom, he heard Sally croon, “sweet babboo! Over here!”

She and Peppermint Patty sat in the back of the room, and Linus went over to them, sitting in the seat in front of Sally. “Hi,” he greeted.

The teacher came into the room and, shutting the door behind her, began to speak.

“A project?” Sally repeated in disbelief. “Already?”

The teacher continued.

“And _you_ assign the partners?” Peppermint Patty asked, filling with dread.

The teacher passed out the rubric for the project before reading off a list of names. Sally was paired with Eudora, which she was pleased about.

Linus waited in anticipation for the teacher to read his name, but half the class had already been paired up and he was growing nervous. Finally, his name was called, and his partner was Peppermint Patty.

Patty whooped with joy and leaned out of her seat to give Linus a friendly punch on the arm. “Ouch,” he winced, rubbing his arm. She hit hard.

“Not ouch,” she corrected. “You’re supposed to say hooray.” Her enthusiasm was catching, and Linus returned her smile.

The teacher had just begun to explain the project to them when the bell rang for lunchtime. Students hurried to shove the assignment sheet in their backpacks before running off to the cafeteria. Peppermint Patty, Sally, and Linus followed suit and left the classroom.

“Bye, guys,” Sally said, waving to the two before searching for her other friends. Now alone, Patty and Linus reached the classroom, bracing themselves before stepping into the jungle that is the high school lunch period.

           

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter had a lot of exposition, so thank you for sticking with it.  
> Also this one introduced some new characters, which is a good thing!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big thank you to irlenolacroix, XxAllenWalkerxX, and Tickering for reviewing! it means so much that you're enjoying the story.

The lunch line stretched from the lunch counter and curved around tables. Linus and Peppermint Patty were glad to have packed their own lunches, so the only struggle was to push through the crowd of hungry, waiting kids and find an empty table where they and their friends could sit.

Fortunately, they found Marcie and Charlie Brown already seated, their chairs pulled close together as they spoke, sandwiches gripped loosely in their hands. “Marcie!” Patty called and rushed into the seat beside her best friend.

With her conversation having been interrupted, Marcie turned to face the tomboy. “Hello, sir,” she greeted cheerily. “How was English?” Marcie had a semi-photographic memory, and already knew most of her friend’s schedule, noting the places where their agendas overlapped.

“The teacher is _out of her mind,_ ” Patty exclaimed as Linus took the seat beside Charlie. “Linus, you tell her! I can barely stand to talk about it!”

The boy opened his mouth to speak but Patty was already talking again, waving her hands animatedly as the rest of their friends found their way to the table. “She gave us a partner project on the _first day_! And she picked the partners! Can you believe it, Marcie? She’s got to be kidding.”

“I don’t know, Patty. She seemed pretty serious in class,” Linus advised.

“Nobody’s serious on the first day, Linus,” she answered, stretching in her seat. “Trust me on this one.”

Linus didn’t trust her, but he shrugged. It wasn’t his job to talk sense into her- that task fell to Marcie. With the brunette calming her agitated friend, Linus finally got a chance to look around him and for the first time he noticed that Schroeder was sitting beside him, eating cold spaghetti noodles out of a tupperware container. “Hi, Schroeder,” Linus greeted.

The blond was in the middle of chewing, so he didn’t answer, just offered a close-lipped smile.

“What’d you have first?” Linus asked and waited for his friend’s response.

“Math,” Schroeder answered. “Everyone in the class seems really nice, but the teacher tried to actually give us work today. You know how teachers do that?”

Linus nodded in understanding. “Yeah, my English teacher did the same thing. Patty was going crazy before you got here.”

Schroeder chuckled, then the two fell into comfortable silence, half paying attention to the conversation happening between Marcie, Charlie, and Patty on the other side of the table. “Linus,” the musician began. “Were you going to ask me something earlier? When we were walking to convocation?”

“Yeah,” Linus confirmed, then, upon Schroeder’s questioning look, tentatively continued, “Remember when you told me I should come over sometime to listen to you play?” Schroeder nodded, smiling softly, and Linus’s confidence grew. “Did you mean it? Could I-”

Lucy plopped her lunchbox down beside Schroeder, startling both of the boys. “Hi, Schroeder,” Lucy smiled at him, setting down beside the blond boy. Frieda sat on her other side. Overcome with frustration, Linus’s head dropped to rest in his hands, letting out a groan.

“Good grief.”

///

“How was… statistics?” Peppermint Patty asked, struggling to recall her friend’s first class.

“Yeah, I had statistics,” Marcie agreed. She was enrolled in AP statistics, a class that she took with seniors. “It was alright. I don’t know anyone in the class, though.”

“If they give you a hard time, just let me know,” Patty said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I’ll deal with them for you. I don’t care if they’re older, nobody gets away with treating _my_ Marcie badly.” Marcie turned to look at Patty, tilting her head to the side, and the redhead blushed and broke eye contact. “Or just regular Marcie.”

The two girls looked back to their lunches, suddenly subdued.

“Hey, Marcie, who’s in your class?” Charlie Brown asked. “Anyone we would know?”

“Hmm...” Glad for the distraction, the brunette thought it over. “There’s Shermy… there’s Patty.”

“Marcie, Patty’s right there,” Charlie said, pointing to the tomboy. “And- no offense- I don’t think she’d fare too well in AP stat.”

Patty just shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of her sandwich. It was true, after all.

“No. Not this Patty- not Peppermint Patty,” Marcie clarified. “She goes by Patricia now. She says she lives in your neighborhood and you two used to play together as kids.”

“Oh! _That_ Patty,” Charlie Brown exclaimed in recognition. After a pause, he asked, with a smile spreading across his face, “You guys were talking about me?”

With a blush, Marcie nodded. “Yeah. Sort of,” she answered, glancing at Charlie Brown.

Patty took in Charlie’s proud expression and Marcie’s coy eyes. She deflated, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

“Just my luck,” she groaned, going back to her lonely baloney sandwich.

///

“I can’t believe I have math with my _brother,”_ Lucy complained to Frieda. Linus, two seats down, pretended not to hear.

“What’s the matter with that?” Frieda asked. “There’s nothing wrong with Linus. In fact, he’s kind of nice.”

“He’s not _that_ great,” Lucy countered, and then leaned in, lowering her voice as quiet as she could. “And that’s not what’s bothering me. It’s that he’s _better_ at math than I am.”

“Well,” Frieda said, leaning back in her seat, “there’s one thing he doesn’t have?”

“What’s that?”

“He doesn’t have naturally curly hair.” Frieda smiled, shutting her eyes contentedly as if she had just said something profound.

“Frieda!” Lucy was irritated. “I don’t have naturally curly hair either.”

“And aren’t you jealous about it?” The girl lovingly ran her fingers through her curled locks.

“No! I’m not!”

Shocked and affronted, Frieda could only say one thing in reply.

“ _Hmphh!”_

///

After lunch, Charlie Brown and Schroeder walked to their history class together. Charlie dragged his feet, wanting more than anything to delay his arrival. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle Lucy and Violet in the same classroom. Despite the fact that they were friends now, Lucy still scared him, especially in the company of Violet Gray. The two had been a fearsome duo in childhood, always finding some way or another to mess with Charlie Brown and bring him down.

“Charlie, are you okay?” Schroeder asked, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. “You seem really tense. You do know that it’s only the first day of school, right?”

“I know that, Schroeder,” Charlie heaved a sigh and paused. The blond waited for him to continue. “I’m just worried about history class. With Lucy _and_ Violet. I’m afraid it’ll be like when we were little again. I don’t think I can handle them picking on me every other day.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” he reassured. “Violet isn’t all that nice, but I don’t think she has any interest in tormenting you. And I thought Lucy changed… you guys are friends now!”

“I guess so,” Charlie shrugged. “Maybe she has changed. Schroeder, what do you think of her?”

“She’s not as much of a bully as she was when we were all in grade school,” Schroeder commented. “I just wish that she would grasp that I have no romantic interest in her and move on.”

“No romantic interest? Really?” he asked. “That’s funny. I always figured you two would end up together.”

Schroeder shook his head. “No… that isn’t really something I want.”

By that time they had reached the classroom and walked in. “Charlie Brown!” It was Violet, standing by a desk in the front of the room. Schroeder sent his friend a sympathetic glance. “You’re in this class? This should be fun.”

Poor Charlie Brown…

///

Charlie Brown did not leave the history classroom unscathed, and he walked to math class with his head down. Violet was certainly not as bad as she had been when they were children, but her words hurt.

Lucy walked beside him, frustrated with his dejected attitude. “Charlie Brown, what’s the matter?” she asked.

“Are you really asking that?” he looked up at her, an unbelieving look on his face.

“Of course I am. I don’t say things I don’t mean,” she answered. “What’s bothering you?”

“Violet, of course! Don’t you see how she treats me?”

Lucy shrugged. “Not too different from when we were kids.”

“Lucy, that’s the problem! She was mean to me when we were kids too. _You_ were mean to me when you were kids.” He looked down again at his feet. “I just can’t believe you’d let her say those things to me.”

The dark-haired girl was shocked- for once stunned into silence. They exchanged no words the rest of the way to math class.

///

Linus looked up when his best friend and his sister entered the classroom. “Hi, Charlie. Hi, Lucy,” he greeted. He immediately took note of his friend’s gloomy expression, and was about to ask about it until Lucy made an aggressive slashing motion across her neck. That shut him up quick. “Here, Charlie Brown, sit next to me,” Linus offered. “If you ever get confused, you can look over at my notes, and I’ll help you.”

“Thank you, Linus,” Charlie said gratefully and slid into the seat next to his friend. Lucy sat behind him.

They were pulling out their notebooks and pencils when the bell rang. This teacher, like Schroeder’s math teacher, introduced herself before launching into the lesson plan. The students groaned but began to take notes.

Five minutes later, as Charlie Brown was furiously scribbling down formulas and diagrams, a note landed on his pad of paper. Confused, he turned back and saw Lucy looking at him with a hopeful smile, gesturing for him to read it. He unfolded the paper and glanced at the words written inside.

_I’m sorry._

_-Lucy_

///

Having science class immediately after math was a drag, but Linus figured he’d just have to get used to it as he traveled from calculus to the physics classroom. Once he reached the classroom, Marcie and Schroeder were already there, inspecting some equipment on the lab bench in the back.

After dropping his bag on an empty chair, the brown-haired boy joined them. “Newton’s cradle?” he asked.

“Not entirely the most complex example of physics in the natural world, but enjoyable nonetheless,” Marcie answered.

“I can see that,” Linus answered, watching how the bespectacled girl became captivated by the apparatus. He turned his attention to Schroeder, who was just as interested in the Newton’s cradle. “Hey, did anything happen to Charlie in history class? He was a bit off last period.”

The blond boy looked away from the Newton’s cradle. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he feels better,” Schroeder frowned. “It was Violet being… well, _Violet_.”

Then the bell rang and the three returned to their seats.

///

At long last, the day was over. Charlie Brown sat in his car, with the radio playing low, and waited for Sally. While the day went better than he expected, it had still been a challenge.

“Sorry I’m late, big brother,” Sally chirped, getting into the car. “Frieda was telling me about the back to school party this Friday. She told me to bring you.”

Charlie Brown pulled out of the parking spot, nodding his head as she spoke. Luckily she didn’t expect any response from him, so he drove as she chattered away. “And then our English teacher gave us this project- a partner project. I _really_ wanted to be partnered with my sweet babboo, but I’m with Eudora, and she’s okay…”

He zoned out, his mind turning to his own day. He thought about Marcie’s head on his shoulder, the fun he had at lunch, the difficulty of history class with Violet, and the simple kindness of Lucy’s note.

It sure had been a strange day.

///

Each time that Linus had tried to talk to Schroeder, he had been interrupted. The frustration of it was too much to take, so once he arrived home, Linus put the shoes that Schroeder had lent him into a paper bag and headed out. He told Lucy that he was just going for a walk and would be home soon.

As he walked under the hot August sun from his neighborhood to Schroeder’s, he tried to calm his nerves. He was just going to return his shoes- that was a perfectly good excuse to go see the blond musician. It wasn’t as if he was trying to steal the love of his sister’s life.

Well, he certainly wouldn’t mind that, but that was _not_ his intention.

Finally, he reached the front door. He stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths. The bag hanging by his side, he lifted his hand and rang the doorbell. He took a step back, nervously tapping his feet on the pavement.

The door opened, revealing Schroeder, his blond hair disheveled and his feet clad just in socks. “Hi, Linus. What are you doing here?” He leaned against the doorframe.

“I came to return your shoes,” he answered, offering the bag to the other boy. “Also, I tried to ask you something today- multiple times actually, but I kept getting interrupted.” He paused, and Schroeder beckoned for him to continue. “This morning on the bus, you told me that I should come over to hear you play? Did you mean that?”

Schroeder smiled, the bag now swinging by his side. “Of course I meant it, Linus. I’d really like to play for someone- for you.” At this, the brown-haired boy grinned, ducking his head to hide his reddening cheeks. “I’m practicing now. You could come in if you’d like?”

“I’d like that,” Linus answered, and followed the boy into the house. He slipped out of his sneakers at the door. The white carpeting looked so clean, and he didn’t want to ruin it. Schroeder smiled approvingly at him before going to the piano.

Linus padded into the living room, where Schroeder had begun to play on the piano. He was almost floored by the beauty of the music. The blond’s eyes were half closed and his tongue stuck out of his mouth in concentration. Linus joined him on the piano bench, their legs almost touching. He shut his eyes as well, absorbed in Schroeder’s talent.

He didn’t notice when Schroeder looked up from the piano keys, watching his friend’s enchanted face.

When Schroeder finished this song, he began another. Linus sat and listened, his legs swinging below him.

He was still there when Schroeder’s parents returned from work hours later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed or have any feedback, please leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you.


	5. Chapter 5

During the next English class, Peppermint Patty learned that the teacher had in fact been serious. In class, they read over the assignment sheet, which included an essay detailing the historical context of _Pride and Prejudice,_ as well as an analytical paper arguing whether or not the novel was progressive. Since they hadn’t even started the book yet, the project was due at the end of September.

“I can’t believe it,” Patty complained to Linus at the end of class. “It’s only the third day of school and my life is already ruined.”

“I wouldn’t say _ruined,”_ Linus said as they left the classroom.

“I would. Linus, you know why I failed freshman English?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m horrible at writing these stupid papers! I wasn’t good at it as a kid, and I’m even worse now! If that’s even possible,” Patty explained, gesturing with her hands.

“Hey, Patty, don’t worry about it,” Linus assured his friend. “You’ve got me to help.” Patty still looked frazzled, so he added, “How about you come by my house today at 4:00? We can start working on the project.”

“Thanks, Linus. You know, sometimes it’s hard to tell you’re even related to Lucille.” Patty’s smile was returning.

A shout from behind drew his attention and then a hand on his shirt collar was pulling him away. “Linus, drawing is this way!” Sally said, dragging him down the hall.

“Bye, Patty!” he called, trying to keep step with the determined blonde.

The tomboy waved before heading to her next class.

///

Charlie Brown sat at his desk in the history classroom, trying his best to zone out. Violet sat a few desks in front of him, taunting him- either to his face or speaking really loudly to her friends. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to think of anything else. English class, Snoopy, the drive to school this morning. The dark-haired boy tapped his foot to distract his mind. It was becoming too much to take.

Then another voice cut in.

“Violet, how about you leave him alone?” A look of barely controlled anger was on Schroeder’s face.

The raven-haired girl looked back, surprised that he had spoken. “Lucy, can’t you keep him quiet?” she asked. Lucy said nothing and didn’t look up from her book. “Lucy?” Violet was confused. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing, Violet?” Her eyes were still trained on the textbook. “I’m studying for the quiz.” A pause. “You did know we had a quiz today, didn’t you?”

Violet shook her head and wordlessly began to study, flipping through the pages of the first chapter as quickly as she could. Most of the class followed suit.

“A quiz?” Charlie Brown groaned. “As if this day couldn’t get any worse…”

“Relax,” Schroeder whispered. “There’s no quiz.”

Eyebrows furrowed, Charlie turned in his seat, sending Lucy a confused look. The dark-haired girl only smiled back.

The teacher, when she came in, was pleasantly surprised by the studiousness of her class.

///

Drawing, as well as many of the art classes, was a complete joke.

At the beginning of the period, the teacher handed out paper and charcoal pencils and instructed them to draw a teapot that had been placed in the front of the room. Then he had sat down at his desk, leaving the students to their own devices.

Linus, Franklin, Sally, and Pig-Pen had a table to themselves. Art certainly wasn’t Franklin’s forte, but he needed the credit to graduate, so he busied himself with drawing the teapot. He couldn’t get the curved lines right, so it didn’t look so much like a teapot.

Pig-Pen, for all his effort, only succeeded in getting charcoal all over his face and hands. He wiped his hands on his shirt, smearing the gray fabric with black.

Linus fared better than the two friends. Ever since he was a child, he had been pretty good at drawing, and he was able to capture the teapot realistically.

Sally, however, had more artistic talent than all of them combined. Her drawing looked like it had been plucked right out of real life and put onto paper. The teapot looked perfect, and she even captured the little glimmers of light reflecting from the fluorescent bulbs above. Linus watched her draw, amazed by her skill. She looked up and noticed the three boys watching her in awe.

“What?” she asked, scrutinizing the three of them.

“Sally, this is amazing,” Linus complimented.

“You’ve got to be the best in the class,” Franklin agreed.

She blushed from her friends’ praises. “Thank you,” she said, looking down at her paper. She looked up once more, her eyes locking on Pig-Pen. “Look what you did to yourself!”

As Pig-Pen looked down to his shirt, Franklin laughed. He slapped his friend on the back, raising a cloud of dust. As Linus and Sally dissolved in coughing, the filthy teen smiled sheepishly.

“Oops.”

///

“Charlie Brown, you should be thanking me,” Lucy said, hurrying after him and Schroeder after history class.

“Lucy, you don’t deserve a pat on the back just for being a decent human being,” Schroeder pointed out, and the girl was flabbergasted.

“Let him speak for himself,” she shot back.

The answer she got was not the answer she wanted. “Schroeder’s right, Lucy,” the dark-haired boy answered. “All you did was distract her. She won’t stop bothering me.”

The musician pulled ahead, pushing open the cafeteria doors and leaving the two alone. “She won’t listen to Schroeder, and she definitely won’t listen to me.”

“So what? You want me to tell her off?”

Charlie Brown nodded. “Lucy, _everyone_ listens to you,” he stressed. He quickened his pace, leaving her behind. Looking back over his shoulder, he added, “Or they _hear_ you, at least.”

///

When Lucy sat down at the lunch table, she was fuming. She couldn’t believe the nerve of that Charlie Brown. He sat across from her at the table, and he was having an animated conversation with Linus and Schroeder, pretending he didn’t notice her. Boy, sometimes she just couldn’t stand him.

“Hiya, Lucy!”

She looked to her left, where Pig-Pen had just sat down. His palms were dark with charcoal pencil, and she shuddered as he picked up his sandwich and took a bite. “Pig-Pen, I don’t want you or your germs anywhere near my lunch,” she snapped back.

“I’m a human being too, you know,” he said back, before staring straight ahead. Lucy gripped her own sandwich tighter, and mustard oozed out the back. Everything annoyed her- the dull fluorescent lights in the cafeteria, Pig-Pen chewing, and the sounds of Charlie Brown and her brother talking. She was just about ready to pull her hair out.

Speaking of hair, Frieda took the seat on Pig-Pen’s other side. Ever since a Christmas when they were children, Frieda didn’t mind the boy’s perpetual dirtiness so much.

“Are you all going to be at my party this Friday?” she asked.

A party! Maybe that was what Lucy needed to forget about this Charlie Brown nonsense. “I’ll be there,” she said, and the whole table dissolved into conversation about that Friday. Frieda was telling Pig-Pen how she was going to wear her hair, Marcie and Patty were talking about music, and Schroeder was asking a very flustered Linus if his green or purple striped shirt suited him better.

The bell soon rang and interrupted their conversations. Lucy got up quickly and hurried to math class, not wanting to talk to anyone.

///

Math class passed quickly. Nothing much happened except the teacher assigning seats. Linus was moved to the front of the room, while Lucy was given the spot next to Charlie Brown. His smiles and energy from lunch melted away when she sat beside him.

The last math class the three of them had gotten along fine- Lucy almost began to think that being in Linus’s math class wasn’t so bad after all. But now the space between the two teens was fraught with tension. Trying to ignore him, the girl looked resolutely to the front of the room.

If Charlie Brown wanted to give her the cold shoulder, Lucy could certainly do the same.

///

Linus was leaving the physics room when Schroeder caught up to him, grabbing his arm.

“Hi,” Linus said, turning to face the blond. His eyes lowered to the hand on his arm. Schroeder let his hand drop, and it brushed against Linus’s before coming to rest by his side. Linus’s hand tingled from the contact, and he felt his cheeks coloring.

“Hey,” the musician said back. “Listen, it was really nice yesterday when you came to watch me play. Would you like to come by again?”

More than anything, Linus wanted to say yes, and he almost did, until he remembered his meeting with Peppermint Patty. “Aw, I wish I could,” he said. “But Patty and I are working on a project together this afternoon. Can I come by another time?”

“Sure,” Schroeder nodded. “Anytime you like. Next Saturday, too, I have a concert, if you’d like to come to that.”

“I’d love to, Schroeder,” he answered, confused by the sudden invitation, but thrilled all the same. Down the hall, he saw Lucy getting her things from her locker, and he knew he’d need to meet her by the car soon. “I got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

Linus walked away, a furtive smile playing at his lips.

///

As they sat in the parking lot of the middle school waiting for Rerun, Linus played his conversation with Schroeder over and over in his head. Lucy, on the other hand, was not so cheerful. As she searched for a radio station, she violently turned the dial, and finally Linus just had to break the silence between the siblings.

“Lucy, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” she huffed, turning up the volume on the radio until it was hurting his ears.

Linus turned the volume back down. “Lucy, I _know_ something’s bothering you. Can’t you just tell me what it is?”

“No,” the girl argued back and cranked the volume way up, filling the small car with guitar music.

Linus shut the radio off altogether. “Rerun will be here in a few minutes. Why don’t you just tell me what’s bothering you? It’ll be better to get it off your chest.”

Lucy sunk back into her seat in defeat. “ _Fine,_ ” she relented. “I think Charlie Brown is mad at me.” Linus said nothing, so she continued, “I was sort of mad at him at first- for being mad at me- but now I just wish he would talk to me. He’s been upset ever since this morning. He’s such a blockhead! He wouldn’t say a single word to me in math.”

“Why do you think he’s so angry?”

“It’s the stupidest thing. He shouldn’t even be mad at me in the first place. It wasn’t me. It was Violet. She was messing with him in history class and she was trying to get me to join in. I told her we had a quiz, so she left him alone to study for that. I mean, _sure,_ I didn’t tell her off… but she left him alone, didn’t she? And then Schroeder-”

Linus’s eyes widened, alarmed. “Wha- Schroeder?”

“Yeah,” Lucy nodded. “Schroeder said I didn’t deserve anything just for being a good person… or whatever. And Charlie said that all I did was distract her. I didn’t make a real difference at all.” She sighed. “I wish he would be a little appreciative every now and then.”

“Well, you know, Lucy, he’s right. And Schroeder is too,” Linus said. “Maybe Charlie Brown wants you to take a stand for him. Maybe he wants you to be his friend, like… in public.”

“It just scares me, Linus. If I get in the way of Violet…” Lucy shook her head. “I know how mean she can be. _I_ can be that mean. I don’t know if I could take it like Charlie Brown can.”

“Maybe you should tell them that,” Linus offered as Rerun banged on the car window. Lucy let him in and the three drove home in the midst of the youngest Van Pelt chattering excitedly about his day.

///

“Hello, Charlie Brown,” Linus greeted. His friend was leaning against the brick wall where they would often meet when they were in elementary school. Before Charlie had gotten his license, they would ride the bus home together and then go there to talk when something was on one of their minds.

“Oh. Hi, Linus,” the boy said glumly.

“Lucy thinks you’re mad at her.”

Charlie heaved a sigh. “I’m not _mad_ at her. It’s just… Linus, do you think she’s ashamed to be my friend? She never sticks up for me or anything. She says she’s my friend, and I guess I should be happy with that.” He paused. “Did she say anything to you about me?”

“She’s as upset about this whole fight as you are,” Linus said. “But I think you two need to talk about it. I can’t be the one to apologize for her.”

“She wants to apologize?” Charlie Brown looked hopeful.

Linus nodded, smiling to his friend. He sat up on the wall, swinging his feet. “Is there anything else on your mind, Charlie?”

“Well… I guess so. It’s not about your sister.”

“Who’s it about then?”

Charlie Brown looked down bashfully, blush coloring his cheeks. “You know Marcie?” Upon the younger boy’s nod, he continued, “And you know how she used to like me when we were kids? I think she still does.”

“I think I’ve picked up on that as well,” Linus said. “Do you like her too?”

“I think so…”

“I’m happy for you, Charlie Brown,” he said with a smile. Looking down at his watch, he blanched. “Sorry, I gotta go! I’m supposed to be meeting with Patty right now.” He hurried off, leaving his friend in a haze of puppy love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment!


End file.
